The Buffalo Zoo is celebrating the birth of a baby Western Lowland Gorilla! 

The baby was born on Wednesday, September 4 to first-time mother Lily, age 12 and father, Koga, age 26. Lily has displayed strong maternal instincts and is taking great care of the troop’s latest addition. Keepers have not been able to get close enough to the baby to determine its gender, though they believe it is a girl. Both mother and baby are doing well. 

Photo Credit:  Kelly Brown

During Lily’s pregnancy, the keeper staff was able to monitor the baby’s growth using ultrasound technology. Lily had been trained to present her abdomen to keepers and remain calm during the ultrasound process, so she did not need to be anesthetized in order to obtain images of the fetus. The measurement of the baby in utero is important to the study and husbandry of Gorillas. 

The gestation period of Gorillas is eight and a half months. Gorillas begin walking when they are between three and six months of age, and are weaned around three years of age. Western Lowland Gorillas are found in the lowland tropical forests of central Africa. The species is Critically Endangered due to loss of habitat as well as the bush meat trade.

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Alex, a female Prehensile-tailed Porcupine born at the Buffalo Zoo in April, is not your average porcupette.  For example, she is awake most of the day (Porcupines are typically nocturnal) and she spends a lot of time with keepers (Porcupines are not always so friendly).






Photo Credit:  Kelly Brown

Alex is being hand-reared by her keepers due to concerns about the health of her mother, Taco Belle, also known as Belle.  Belle has reliably had babies every six to eight months for the last several years.  But before Alex was born, keepers noticed that Belle was losing weight.  It was determined that she had a problem with her teeth and had trouble eating.  Even though Belle’s problem has been resolved, keepers felt that nursing a porcupette would cause Belle to lose more weight, so the baby was removed for hand-rearing.

Zoo keepers plan to utilize Alex as an animal ambassador in keeper talks and demonstrations.  They’ll soon have to start using gloves to handle Alex:  the soft red fur of her babyhood is being supplemented with sharp quills as she grows.

Prehensile-tailed Porcupines are native to Central and South America.  They are skilled climbers and feed on fruits, leaves, shoots, and other plant material.

A group of Southern Tamanduas was imported to the United States last August as part of an effort to bolster the population in US zoos.  A pair named Olive and Brutus were placed at the Buffalo Zoo.

Not much is known about the reproductive behaviors of this species, but Olive and Brutus had their first pup on April 7.  The male baby, named Otis, is strong, alert and very vocal.  

Photo Credit:  Kelly Brown

Zoo keepers report that Olive is a very attentive mother and though she is protective of her baby, she is calm around her keepers.  Every morning, the baby can be seen clinging onto his mom’s back as she makes her way down to the feeding pans for her breakfast. He has no problem letting mom know when she is not by his side!

Southern Tamanduas are native to much of South America, but they are becoming rare.  These ant- and termite-eating mammals are expert diggers, and are able to extract insects with their long tongues.

 

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Kali sizes up her opponent...

On March 12, an Inuit hunter shot and killed a female Polar Bear near Point Lay, Alaska. When he realized it was a female, he searched for the den and found young Kali, a 3 - 4 month cub. The hunter then carried the cub to the Department of Wildlife Management who then passed the healthy 18.4lb cub to the Alaska Zoo who was equipped to care for the orphan.

Thankfully the cub has so far thrived under the care of keepers and veterinarians, exhibiting the trademark playfulness of his age and species. In these photos, taken by volunteer photographer John Gomes at the Alaska Zoo, the cub takes on a similarly sized opponent. Plans are in the works to relocate the cub to the Buffalo Zoo in New York, which recently welcomed another cub, Luna. 

Kali makes the first move

Brown Bear gets the upper paw! 

Exhausted, they agree to disagree

Photos courtesy of Alaska Zoo / John Gomes

Polar Bears are one of the most recognizable animals threatened by melting polar ice. The Alaska Zoo works with Polar Bears International (PBI) to try to reverse this troubling trend. The Alaska Zoo is a PBI Arctic Ambassador Center, which means they:

* Strive for bear friendly exhibits with enrichment activities to stimulate the bears to be active and content

* Provide leadership for carbon emission reduction in their communities

* Support PBI research projects to help conserve wild polar bears

* Play a key role in the PBI Sustainability Alliance, a front-line team helping to save polar bears in a rapidly warming Arctic

Thanks to Jaymie Wahlen for her help on this post.

You may have first read about Buffalo Zoo's fuzzy white Polar Bear cub HERE on ZooBorns. Born on November 27 to Mom Anana and father, Nanuq, the female cub has been hand-raised by zoo staff. The results of a recent naming contest recently gave her the nickname Luna. It's expected that this little ball of fur will grow to be close to 600 pounds at adulthood.

Photo Credit: Buffalo Zoo

The zoo is currently raising funds for their Bear Necessities Campaign. They're hoping to raise $18 million dollars to facilitate building a brand new polar bear habitat.

She is too young to stay in the habitat full time, but got her first chance to play and explore in the snow just last week. Watch below as the little one scampers around with her keepers just last week. 

New York's Buffalo Zoo has a lot to celebrate these days. Not only did their new Polar Bear cub meet the public for the first time Friday, the zoo has entered a new phase of fundraising for an exhibit that will help keep Polar Bears in Buffalo. The Western New York zoo is one of only two zoos in North America to have Polar Bear births this year. The cub was born on November 27th to mother Anana, sired by Nanuq, and has been hand raised by the zoo’s veterinary technician and keeper staff.

The Buffalo Zoo has spent the past two years raising over $14 million of the $18 million needed to build a new entrance and Polar Bear exhibit. They are now asking residents of Western New York and the surrounding community to help raise the remaining $4 million required to build the exhibit and keep Polar Bears in Buffalo.

Photo credits: Kelly Brown / Buffalo Zoo 

Though the cub is currently too small to go on exhibit for the public, she will be visible on a closed-circuit television in the Zoo’s M&T Bank Rainforest Falls Monday through Friday from 12 p.m. until 3.p.m. The Zoo will also post regular updates to their website and Facebook page.

 Many more pics below the fold!

New York's Buffalo Zoo has announced the latest additions to their Reptile House -- three baby Black Tree monitors (Varanus beccarii). Their birthdays are October 28, 30 and November 2. This is the first time since 2006 that the species have hatched at the zoo.

Black tree monitors are native to the Aru Islands off the coast of New Guinea, and little is known about their natural ecology in the wild. They are highly adapted to life in the trees due to their long, curved claws, streamlined body and long, prehensile tail They can grow to be approximately 3 feet (.914 meters) long. They're carniverous, eating things like insects, scorpions, eggs, and small mammals.

The Black Tree monitor is considered to be a CITES AppendixII (threatened) species due to deforestation. Buffalo Zoo is one of only 13 zoos in North America (and 22 in the world) to house this species and the only zoo in the world reported to have hatched Black Tree monitors this year.

 

The Buffalo Zoo is proud to announce the birth of a baby Western Lowland Gorilla born on October 8 at 7:40 p.m. to mother, Sidney, and father, Koga. Sidney, who was born at the Buffalo Zoo in 1997, and 23-year-old Koga, who arrived from the Memphis Zoo in 2007, are both first-time parents. Sidney continues to provide good care for the baby, while silverback, Koga, protectively watches over them and the rest of the troop. Sydney has not presented the baby close enough for her keepers to accurately determine gender, but both mother and baby are doing fine. Keepers took these first photos from a distance, so as not to cause the animals any undue stress.

Photo credits: Buffalo Zoo

For the first time in five years, the “pitter patter” of little snow leopard paws can be heard at the Buffalo Zoo. Two male cubs were born on June 6, 2010 to mother, Annapurna, and father, Dwaine. The breeding was recommended as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP), which is designed to help a species maintain a healthy and stable population. Red lights in the den cannot be seen by snow leopards (cats lack cones for red light) but allow keepers to keep a watchful eye on the new family.

First-time mom, Annapurna, was the last snow leopard to be born at the Buffalo Zoo. She is taking good care of her little ones, who remain with her in the nest box off exhibit. Keepers have set up a Live Cam in the nest box so visitors can observe the cubs’ progress on the monitor inside Ecostation. 

Found in the high mountains of Central Asia, including the Himalayas, Altai and Hindu Kush, snow leopards are solitary animals that typically only come together for breeding. Snow leopard cubs open their eyes at seven to nine days, eat sold food at two months and follow their mother on hunts at three months.

Snow leopards are highly endangered due to poaching for the fur trade, loss of habitat, dam projects and loss of food sources. 

Yellow-Spotted Amazon River Turtles grow to be one of South America's largest, up to 18 lbs and over a foot across, but start their lives only a bit larger than a quarter. Unfortunately for these endangered turtles, they are considered a popular delicacy in and around the Amazon River Basin. The Buffalo Zoo hatched these babies in October where they will soon be on display, and of course, off the menu.